Thread: Cheap to run car

Originally Posted by Spanners

15k servicing is mad.
The TBN of the oil is fucked in most vehicles at about 7000km.
Oil is the cheapest thing that will ever be spent on a vehicle.


The 1st of the new VW beetles had a allowable consumption if 1l/1000kms and a service interval of 15k
Ours burnt 0.7l/1000
Do the Maths on how many engines they had to replace under warranty..
If we hadnt checked it ours would have been in the list too.

Would they replace it under warranty if it ran out of oil, or say you should have paid attention to the oil warning light? A 15k service interval is meaningless if you always have to get things fixed in between anyway, and VW don't have the best rep in that department.

Mind you with the electronic oil gauges they're replacing dipsticks with now you can't even check it yourself to make sure! Nearly as stupid as electronic handbrakes, the marketing guys must have loved that one - "Hey lets make a simple mechanism so pointlessly complicated that it doesn't do the job as well as the old one, but we can call it a 'feature' and charge more for it. And then when it malfunctions the owner can't fix it themselves so they will have to bring it in and pay our exorbitant servicing rates as well, its a win-win!"

Depends on its oil capacity and how clean burning it is for servicing really.

The little 1600 frontwd subaru i bought the wife is bloody economical, its done 70000k while we have had it and im sure Iv only filled it up once

It is economical tho even for old teck and me raping its arse on any hill to maintain 110kmh its still cheaper to drive than the cruiser even before counting road miles tax.

I used to drive a Hyundai Getz diesel for work.
Service intervals 15000Km. Averaging 27000Km a year for 5 years.
Only topped the oil up once or twice in that time, didn't seem to use much oil.
Having said that, if I owned one of these new vehicles I would be checking the oil level regularly & the fuel filter for water contamination

Originally Posted by Monsterbishi

What is your current car?

A very manly first gen Rav4

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Depends on its oil capacity and how clean burning it is for servicing really.

The little 1600 frontwd subaru i bought the wife is bloody economical, its done 70000k while we have had it and im sure Iv only filled it up once

It is economical tho even for old teck and me raping its arse on any hill to maintain 110kmh its still cheaper to drive than the cruiser even before counting road miles tax.

I kinda like subarus, the AWD ones can be pretty capable off road.

I'd just be worried it'd either get stolen or blow up though, and wouldn't want to have to do a cambelt on one.

Originally Posted by Beetroot

I kinda like subarus, the AWD ones can be pretty capable off road.

I'd just be worried it'd either get stolen or blow up though, and wouldn't want to have to do a cambelt on one.

They're generally reliable unless abused - main culprits for blow-ups are boyracer types winding the boost up on turbos with no supporting mods, and/or putting 91 octane fuel in them. I've had my current GTB for about 5 years and the only thing I've had to replace outside of tyres and normal planned servicing was a MAP sensor at $40 (second-hand) to get back to full boost again.

Mine is a twin-turbo, the cambelt job (incl idlers/tensioners/new waterpump etc all genuine parts) was just on $1k all up from my local mech, IIRC about $650 of it was parts - not a cheap job but no worse than a lot of other cars (and less than most V6s etc), and only needs doing every 100,000km (maybe less often on newer ones).

Going by stories I've heard from ex-Subaru owners who have migrated to Audi/VW etc looking for more luxury, the maintenance costs on those are really in another league.

I think if you're looking for cheapest to run overall, you're probably best with a smallish naturally aspirated Toyota or Nissan from late 90s/early 00s. More complex new turbodiesels may be slightly more economical but likely to more than make up for it in maintenance costs IMO.

Did cam belt myself on ours, was like 30 or 40 bucks. Checked all pullys were fine.
Getting close to doin again, might do the pullys this time.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Depends on its oil capacity and how clean burning it is for servicing really.

The little 1600 frontwd subaru i bought the wife is bloody economical, its done 70000k while we have had it and im sure Iv only filled it up once

It is economical tho even for old teck and me raping its arse on any hill to maintain 110kmh its still cheaper to drive than the cruiser even before counting road miles tax.

My car is still cheaper to run than yours............................................. .............................cause its owned by someone else and its most redeaming feature is ............................wait for it.............................................a fuel card

However I still get the bills for the other one (wifes drive)

Ford Mondeo 2L Diesel.
$150 per 1000 km. That is real world running (which could be bettered if you drove nicer).
Includes RUC and fuel

Originally Posted by waimobenj

Ford Mondeo 2L Diesel.
$150 per 1000 km. That is real world running (which could be bettered if you drove nicer).
Includes RUC and fuel

That's about what I get from the Safari one RUC are lumped in.

So you get 6.7 litres per 100km?

He drives at 60kmh when he is in hurry.

Do safaris have RUCs? :p

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

He drives at 60kmh when he is in hurry.

I have done Chch - Nelson and back plus about 100km running around on a 62l fill going carefully but doing the limit.

Big cars can be fuel efficient as well.
Just done from Hamilton to Wellington in a 4litre car and average is 8.5/100. Hot kms I know but it can be how you drive it as well


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